- NEW YORK (Reuters)
- Merck & Co. Inc. MRK.N reported its Medco pharmacy benefits management
business booked $14 billion in revenue it never collected, but the drugmaker
said on Monday it would go ahead with Medco's planned public offering as
early as this week.
-
- Merck's revelation initially rattled world currency and
stock markets on investor concerns the announcement marked another accounting
scandal. But the accounting treatment had no effect on net income, and
the company's shares fell slightly.
-
- Oliver Marti, portfolio manager at CCI Health Care Partners
hedge fund, said the only new development was the dollar amount listed
in a U.S. regulatory filing, since Merck's accounting for the money patients
pay for drug costs, called co-payments in the industry, was known weeks
ago.
-
- Merck offset the $14 billion generated from co-payments
made by physicians to pharmacists -- which typically range from $5 to $15
-- with matching expenses, resulting in no effect on earnings. The overall
amount represented about 10 percent of Merck's overall revenue.
-
- Despite the size of money involved, Marti said, "I
wouldn't even quantify that as aggressive accounting."
-
- Merck spokesman Christopher Loder said the company is
proceeding with the initial public offering of Medco Health Solutions,
which manages drug benefits for 65 million people, and plans to sell $1
billion in debt.
-
- Several investors have been told by the underwriting
banks, Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan, that the Medco's IPO is still slated
for Tuesday.
-
- Merrill Lynch analyst Steven Tighe cut his long-term
investment rating on the stock to "neutral" from "buy"
because of the proportion of revenue the company booked for patient co-payments
that pharmacies received instead of Medco.
-
- Merck shares fell $1.05, or 2.15 percent, to $47.81 on
the New York Stock Exchange. The shares fell earlier Monday as much as
4.6 percent to $46.60 or a nickel above its 52-week low that was reached
on July 2.
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- IPO MAY FACE ROCKY ROAD
-
- Merck was planning to sell 20 percent of Medco in an
IPO, but the deal has been postponed twice and the price range has been
cut to $20 to $22 from an original $22 to $24 per share.
-
- "This may reduce the likelihood that the Medco IPO
gets done at this time," Tighe said in a research note.
-
- Marti, who does not own Merck shares, said Medco's accounting
should not affect the value of the IPO.
-
- However, Marti said he was uncertain that a deal could
get done in the current climate.
-
- The IPO is expected to raise between $934 million and
$1.03 billion, with 46.7 million shares on offer.
-
- David Saks, chief investment officer of the Saks MedScience
Fund at Ladenburg Thalmann, said he would stay on the sidelines for a Medco
IPO during the current climate, but likes the pharmacy benefits management
industry longer term.
-
- Saks, who has a short position in Merck because of his
concerns about the company's drug pipeline, also said the timing of the
IPO is unfortunate with the accounting issues making the news and Medco's
rivals, such as Express Scripts Inc. ESRX.O and AdvancePCS ADVP.O , trading
well below their highs.
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- Merck's disclosure comes at a time of increased scrutiny
of corporate accounting in the wake of scandals involving Enron Corp.ENRNQ.PK
, WorldCom Group WCOME.O and Global Crossing GBLXQ.PK , among others.
-
- Merck is confident that its accounting meets Generally
Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and the Securities and Exchange Commission
has reviewed its registration statement for the IPO, Loder said.
-
- Medco had used the accounting method before Merck acquired
the firm in 1993 and two independent auditors had no objections with the
accounting procedure, the company has said.
-
- Co-payments included in product revenue amounted to approximately
$2.8 billion in 1999, $4.04 billion in 2000, $5.5 billion in 2001, and
$1.64 billion in the first quarter of 2002, according to the filing posted
on Friday.
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- Birgit Kulhoff, an analyst at Swiss private bank Lombard
Odier, said the account was specific to Merck and was not an industry-wide
issue because few drug firms have their own pharmacy benefits management
(PBM) units.
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